Monument to the Laboratory Mouse

Bronze mouse in knitting glasses, honouring generations of laboratory mice at Akademgorodok

Outside the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in Akademgorodok stands a small bronze mouse, wearing round spectacles and sitting upright on a bench, knitting. The knitting project is a double helix of DNA. It is the monument to the laboratory mouse — an acknowledgement of the generations of small rodents whose contributions to genetics research made Akademgorodok's scientific programme possible.

The sculpture is gentle and unpretentious, and the scientists who pass it every day have clearly adopted it with affection — it often appears decorated with small offerings. It is a good reason to walk around Akademgorodok rather than simply reading about it; these small, specific details are what make the place real.

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Novosibirsk's research institutes have used laboratory mice for genetics research for decades, and in 2013 the Institute of Cytology and Genetics commissioned sculptor Andrei Kharkevich to build a monument acknowledging their contribution. The result — a small bronze mouse sitting upright, wearing glasses, and knitting a double helix of DNA — has become one of Siberia's most photographed objects. It is installed near the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in Akademgorodok, and scientists at the institute find it touching rather than strange.

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